Trauma and PTSD
The words “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) are commonplace…
… in today’s world of 24-hour news television. PTSD became a common household word in the United States after the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York.
Car accidents, child abuse, domestic violence, war, and sudden death of a loved one are common causes of PTSD. These traumatic events are experienced as emotionally painful, distressful, and shocking and cause lasting mental and physical distress.
Symptoms of trauma include re-occurring intrusive thoughts of the event, nightmares, intense distress when witnessing events that resemble the original trauma, extreme emotional reactivity, physical health issues and avoiding situations that might set off a trauma reaction.
There is another kind of loss that many people experienced, yet…
… they don’t understand it as a loss. Nor do they realize how these losses affect their ability to live a fulfilling life. This kind of loss is called developmental trauma, the loss of childhood innocence.
When a child is exposed to violence or loss at too young of an age, it can cause psychological and emotional harm. Common examples of this are the death of a parent, witnessing or being the victim of domestic violence, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and ongoing emotional abuse. Emotional abuse happens to children and teenagers when they receive ongoing implicit or explicit messages that they are not good enough, i.e. being told you’re a failure, that you are bad, sinful etc.
As adults traumatic loss may show up in many ways. Some examples are:
- Continually repeating some self-destructive pattern of behavior even though you try not to
- Alcohol and drug abuse
- Being unhappy and not knowing why
- Sadness and depression
- Feeling stressed out
- Difficulty maintaining meaningful relationships
- Having a sense that something is missing or wrong
- Experiencing difficulty with money, career or other maintenance activities of modern life
- Any of the PTSD symptoms listed in the first paragraph above
Successful treatment of trauma requires that a therapist and client to work through the following:
- Acknowledging the pain caused by the trauma and that it is OK to feel bad.
- Understanding the environment that the trauma took place in, and what causes and conditions allowed it to happen.
- Realizing on a gut level that you are entitled to a better life; to be happy, to not be afraid all of the time, and to have meaningful relationships.
- Recognizing self-defeating thoughts due to low self-esteem and work to change them.
- Clearheadedly looking at what happened and see what you can learn from it. This is an opportunity to make something good from a bad situation.
- Releasing the holding patterns in the body, the tight muscles, digestive problems and other associated physical symptoms of trauma.
A holistic approach to trauma work that includes working with thoughts, emotions, the physical body and sensations, as well as the relationships involved can bring lasting relief and healing from trauma. Body-centered psychotherapy combined with kind compassionate and skillful talk therapy is the leading approach to healing trauma.
Please contact me by phone or email to schedule an appointment to start the healing process.
